How to Protect Yourself from Cyber Crime

Remember the Old saying “Prevention is better than cure?” Well, the relevance of the proverb is still appropriate in the real world as well as in the virtual world where you need to protect yourself from every instance of criminal activity prevailing over the internet today. Here are few necessary steps you can take in order to remain safe:

Don’t get lured by lucrative online offers

Frequent users of the internet often find lucrative offers which mention tags like “only for you”, “exclusively yours” for prizes that are to be collected online providing your personal details. These often come in the form of secret investment options that can return a huge amount in future or contests that declare you to be the winner of lottery schemes, of even options for downloading software free of cost. Never indulge yourself into such things since they are nothing by easy traps for innocent customers.

Use the best Antivirus available

Online security is best provided by top notch antivirus software which are available over the internet either free of cost or paying a negligible amount. They provide several means of protection like firewalls that can prevent unwanted traffic to enter your machine automatically upon the right configuration. Well designed antivirus software can also stop viruses and worms to cause harm to your PC or from malware, spyware and many more. Regular updates are needed for the antivirus to work properly and save your valuable big data from being harmed by unwanted technological progress.

Avoid storing details of credit cards on websites

Many of us in a habit of saving passwords, personal information, credit card numbers and their secret codes on certain websites only to save time during next logins. Sometimes we do it simply because we can’t remember that information every time. However, this is not a good practice as cyber criminals always look out for these loopholes in customers so that they can use specialized software to retrieve such information. Hence, it is better to write these down somewhere and put them in every time you log in to purchase something on any website.

Keep changing your passwords for emails as well as social networking sites

Often we like to continue with the same password for several email accounts we maintain or few of those social networking sites that we use on a daily basis. It is important to change passwords on a regular basis because cyber criminals tend to find out different means to hack these in order to retrieve important information about an individual. Also, it is advised to keep different passwords for different emails than a single one because if that gets exposed, all your email accounts might come under the surveillance of the wrong person.

Avoid monetary transactions on public computers

Cyber cafes are the primary area for an individual with a wrong intention and hence you must not conduct any kind of monetary transactions there in order to save yourself. Hackers usually retrieve the information you have entered in the bank account you use and can masquerade your activities to cause you severe monetary loss. So try not to use your credit or debit card in any computer meant for public use and if you have to, make sure you have logged out properly after use. It is better to change your password after one such public use in order to give the minimum chance to a hacker to invade your privacy.

Configure your PC properly

When you purchase a new machine, be sure that you click the right button so that privacy can be protected. Sometimes while installing the OS, we forget to clock auto updates of software at regular intervals. This might induce unwanted virus in your machine without your knowledge even. Configure your browser properly so that prevention can be assured during surfing as well. Choose to download regular updates and patches of the latest software from authentic sources so that your machine does not become outdated at any point.

Choose websites that ask you for double verification

Web sites like Google and others, go for two-step verification for a customer while opening an account there. Apart from entering your personal details including passwords, you are sent a secret code at your mobile via SMS. You need to complete your registration only after you enter this code visiting the website. It might seem to you time taking but believe it or not, this is secured. So even if a hacker manages to steal your password, it is impossible for him to get hold of that SMS code. The codes are also known as OTP or one-time passwords which are often used in order to ensure secure transactions of credit cards over the internet. These methods always make you safe and help you to save your personal details from unauthorized access.